Tunable lasers may be packaged as a component of an optical transceiver, or may be used in other applications outside of an optical transceiver. Tunable lasers are generally packaged with other components including an electrical interface and an optical interface.
There is an ever-constant challenge in the industry to reduce the size of tunable laser packages, modulation components, and tunable laser transmitters. The reduction in size may allow lasers and transmitters to be used in a greater number of applications. The reduction in size provides numerous design challenges for the package components to fit within the limited space and also not compromise performance or reliability.
In applications in which tunable lasers and transmitters are a component of an optical transceiver, the tunable lasers and transmitters could be sized for use in a standardized mechanically defined package or form factor. The various form factors set5 forth in “multi-source agreements or MSAs” provide standardized dimensions and electrical input/output interfaces that allow devices from different manufacturers to be used interchangeably. Examples of form factors include, but are not limited to, XENPAK, SFF (“Small Form Factor”), SFP (“Small Form Factor Pluggable”), XFP (“10 Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable”), ITLA (“Integrable Tunable Laser Assembly”), and the micro-ITLA (“micro-Integrable Tunable Laser Assembly”).
Therefore, while the parent applications have been directed to the tunable laser component, there is also a need for a small, packaged tunable laser transmitter assembly utilizing such a laser component for various applications.